Farrell ‘won’t have a club game until March’

OWEN FARRELL and his fellow Saracens stars are likely to go into the Six Nations with no club rugby under their belts after it became clear the Championship season was going to be delayed.

The second division was scheduled to start in January, but the Mail on Sunday can reveal that the competition is now likely to start in March.

League chiefs are still finalising the league structure, which is not feasible without crowds, but a dual-tier conference competition is likely. ‘We’re looking at starting in March now,’ said Nottingham chairman Alistair Bow.

‘It wasn’t going to be feasible for January with the lock down restrictions, especially with the likelihood of a third wave after Christmas. We’re desperate to get back but it wouldn’t be responsible push things.

‘Things will hopefully be going in the right direction and we can still play a meaningful competition that allows for promotion. We’re still working on the structure.

‘There have been suggestions of some form of conference league. There’s no real rush for a season end date. If we have to play in June, we will play in June.’

The delay adds further complications t o Premiership Rugby’s plans to ring-fence the top flight. ‘Ring-fencing has never been discussed with us,’ added Bow. ‘As far as we’re concerned there is promotion and relegation from the Premiership. There are 24 teams in the elite competition but who knows if all 24 will emerge? Personally, I don’t think anything will change, unless something catastrophic happens.’

Meanwhile, Scarlets were awarded a 28-0 victory over Toulon yesterday after the French side abandoned the game because of Covid fears.

The Scarlets were already out on the pitch when Toulon announced that they would not play because of a positive case in the Welsh camp.

Toulon declined the offer to play the game at a later date. ‘ EPCR would like to emphasise that blame was not considered as a factor during the deliberations, and the committee’s decisions were made with a view to facilitating the completion of this season’ s Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup in unprecedented circumstances,’ the tournament organisers said.

Scarlets had banned the player and his close contacts from training before naming their team to take on Toulon. That satisfied organisers but not Toulon’s managers.